Graduation
by csi cameron
Summary: Tragedy strikes before Lindsey's graduation


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A nice little one shot, but if given the right inspiration, is open to more possibilities. (keyword "open" not sure if it'll happen cuz I wind up not having great extended endings and they fizzle out lol)

* * *

It was a couple of days before Lindsey's graduation and Catherine still had to get ready for her party. Finishing her shopping, she collected her goods and was heading out the sliding doors. "Do you need any help out, Ms Willows?" asked the clerk. "No thank you, I've got it. Have a good day," Catherine said with a smile.

Catherine slowed as she approached the curb, seeing a car coming up faster than most. Shaking her head, she thought, 'This isn't a speedw—' Before she could finish that thought, a barrage of bullets came out of the car before it sped off again. Catherine Willows fell to the ground, dropping her bags. That's where the paramedics found her when they arrived shortly after.

Nick and Greg slowly walked under the yellow tape, careful not to disturb the scene. Greg craned his head back as he passed a fallen grocery bag lying in a pool of blood, eyeing the spilled contents: pretzel sticks, Nutella, a fruit platter among the items. 'Hm, Lindsey's favorites," he thought briefly, unaware at how accurate he was.

O'Riley approached them with purpose in his stride. "I'm surprised to see you guys here."

Nick looked at him quizzically, "Why? It's still our shift."

"You didn't hear?" O'Riley began. "Catherine was here at the time."

Greg gasped eyes wide, "Oh my god," as he turned back to the bag on the ground. "She was right in the midst of it," putting the pieces together.

O'Riley nodded. "They took her straight to surgery at Desert Palm. I'm told she's in critical condition."

"Oh man," was all Nick could say.

"You guys sure you can do this?" O'Riley asked. He was concerned for Catherine and didn't want any piece of evidence overlooked because the guys were distraught.

Nick shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, we'll be fine. There's no way I'm letting Ecklie's team get a hold of this. Let's do this, for Catherine."

Greg had already started taking photos of the outside leaving Nick to interview the people inside and start processing.

Grissom met Lindsey and Lily in the waiting area of Desert Palm. "I got here as soon as I heard. How is she?"

Lily looked up, "They're not telling us anything yet. They said that she's critical and the best thing we could do for her is let the doctors do their work. Can you believe that? We're her family."

Lindsey wrapped her arms around her grandmother. "It's ok, Nana. The doctors are just trying to stay focused on helping mom."

All Grissom could do was sit and wait.

She was in a dream. Voices were floating all around her, but nothing made sense.

_I don't have to. I don't even know why they picked me. Jenny could do it. She's even got a speech, just in case. _

_Because you earned it. She would want you to go._

_It's not important. I want to stay._

_It's important to her. You should go. Why don't you put your phone on vibrate in case anything happens? THEN Jenny can be your backup._

The slight hum of monitors permeated her senses. She tried to lift her eyelids, but they felt like 50lb. weights, as she fell back into unconsciousness.

_No, I'm not going. Yeah, I know. I just can't. Who knows what will happen? I don't want to be that far away. You'll just have to have fun without me._

There was a prolonged period of silence as the one-sided conversation came to a pause.

_Don't say things like that, Jen! Yeah, I don't know. I hope I don't have to find out. I would like to have her there with me, but I just don't know. I really can't think about 3 months from now. I don't think I want to. No, no you definitely need to go. I'll be fine, just make sure you take lots of pictures and Tweet me everything that's going on. _

She heard soft laughter and felt closer to the voice, then everything went hazy again.

She had that dream again; the one with the voices. They spoke in hushed tones. Whatever they were talking about seemed serious and frustrating at the same time. Then it was over and the silence returned with the exception of a slight hum and the occasional beep.

Grissom held her hand as he saw here eyes quiver, attempting to open.

"Come on, Cath. You can do it. We're all here waiting for you."

Voices had been going in and out of Catherine's mind, but one stood out most to her. Calling her back to consciousness. Slowly, her eyes fluttered opened then squinted as the bright lights inundated her vision. She glanced around getting a feel for her surroundings when her eyes fell on the man who possessed the voice that called her out of the darkness.

"Good morning, sunshine." Gil whispered, thumb caressing the back of her hand.

Catherine smiled weakly at him, "The earth says hello," she replied hoarsely through the oxygen mask.

Gil chuckled. They sat there staring at each other, Gil with tears in his eyes. Catherine tried lifting her free hand to wipe them away. Gil caught her hand and gave it a kiss. "It's alright. Let me call a nurse."

The nurse arrived quickly after Gil buzzed her, anticipating this moment. "Well, hello Ms Willows. We're awfully glad to see you awake," she said jovially. Grabbing the chart, she flipped through some pages, made some notations and went to check her patient's blood pressure. "Everything looks good and you're going to make healthy recovery. I'm just going to take off this mask so we can see you're beautiful smile. There we go. Your doctor should be in soon." The nurse gave Gil a squeeze on his shoulder as she left.

"What…" Catherine wanted to know what happened, but was still too tired to really speak.

Gil answered for her. "There was a drive-by shooting at the store you were at. We think they were former employees of the store. You were caught in the middle." He licked his lips before he continued. "They had semi-automatics. Um… you were hit in your thigh and as you went down you got hit in the chest, shoulder, and a bullet grazed your head."

"There goes my dreams of Wimbledon," she said quietly with a wry smile. She breathed heavily, still weak.

Gil squeezed her hand. "Shh. Just relax." He wanted to tell her more, but as he said that, the doctor came in to check on her.

"Good morning, Ms Willows."

Gil stood up pointing to his phone indicating he was going to call Lily. Catherine merely nodded.

After the doctor left, Gil returned to his chair and reached for Catherine's hand again. "Your mother and Linds are on their way."

Just then Nick rushed in. "We got them, Gris," Nick said shaking his head. "Judgment came in. They're going to jail for 35 years. Disgruntled idiots. The DA couldn't get any more time." He paused enough to notice Catherine awake. "Hey, sleepyhead!"

She smiled back, "Hey, Nicky."

"I just wanted to let you know personally. I'm going to finish filing this case and let the others know."

Grissom nodded at him, "Thanks, Nick." He turned his attention back to Catherine who seemed contemplative. "What is it?"

She looked confused. "Nick said you guys got the ones who shot me? How long was I out?"

Gil was a bit apprehensive. "You've been here for a little over two months."

"Two months? Lindsey's—" she looked downcast and didn't continue her sentence. She looked over at her flowers and balloons, and saw right next to them was Lindsey's diploma and a photo of Lindsey holding a sign saying "Thanks mom!"

"I missed it."

Gil nodded slowly. "I'm sorry. It was a beautiful ceremony. Lindsey did the salutatorian speech, but I'm sure you knew that." He started to ramble. "She talked a lot about you in it," he added. "Your mom recorded it."

This was all overwhelming to Catherine as she started to cry. There was no way she could make a wry remark about this to cover up her sadness. Gil didn't know what to say, so he just held her hand.

Lily and Lindsey arrived a couple of minutes later. Catherine had her eyes closed when they got there. "Cath? Your mom and Lindsey are here." Gil said, releasing her hand so Lily could sit next to her.

Catherine opened her eyes and met her mother's beaming face. "Hey, mom., Linds."

"Catherine, honey! How are you feeling?" Lily asked squeezing her daughter's hand tightly. "You had us so worried."

There was a small smirk on Catherine's face as she realized some things would never change. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'll try to lean to the left next time."

Lily's face dropped, "Oh no you don't. There better not be a next time."

A slight chuckle escaped Catherine's lips. "Relax, mom. I'm surprised to see you here, Lindsey. I expected you to be putting me into debt in Milan by now."

"No way! I couldn't leave you here while I was in Europe. What kind of daughter do you think I am?" Lindsey asked hurt.

"The best daughter anyone could ever get. But I want you to have fun too. Just because I missed your graduation doesn't mean you have to miss your grad trip."

"It's cool, mom. I hear Milan shuts down for August anyway. Something about the hot weather and everyone goes to the beaches. We'll just have to go together once you get better."

Catherine had to smile at this. Her daughter had sure matured a lot in the past couple of years. "So, I hear I have a graduation to watch."

*** FADE TO BLACK ***


End file.
